No Other Like Parveen Babi

As far as I can remember, I would say that my first impression (and fondest memory) of Bollywood was actress Parveen Babi. Undoubtedly, she was the most charismatic and sensuous actress to have ever appeared on the Indian big screen. I wouldn't be exaggerating in stating that there was a time when the entire nation was in awe of her.

This 5'7 foot young lady from a small city of Junagadh was nothing like your next door girl kind off actresses who had taken the center stage before the 1970s. Besides being beautiful, I would say that in a way she was the one who invented the 'Ice Queen' kind off image; a woman who did not wear her emotions on her sleeve nor let her man take her for granted. She was a woman who defied all norms - she could be evil when hurt, used her beauty for her advantage and gave her fullest to the ones she loved. In simple words, she was every man's fantasy and the reason for every woman's envy.

In the year 1984, my dad got us our very first Sony record player, the advanced version of a gramophone. Among the numerous records that got scratched due to continuous playing were Parveen Babi's Bollywood movies. Many a times, when no one would be paying attention I would shake my hips (also hold a carrot as if it were a microphone) to the songs from movies like Namak Halal, Mahaan, Kalia and my all time favorite, "Pyaar karne wale" from the movie Shaan, pretending to be the glamorous Parveen.

For me, she was my idol.

But as it's often said, "All that glitters ain't gold." Similarly for Parveen, her personal life was not even half as close to her Bollywood presence. With enormous work pressure and expectations laid onto her along with failed love affairs, her emotional state was in pieces.

Fellow actors falling in love while working together is common knowledge and Parveen's life was no different. She had a live-in relationship with actor Kabir Bedi, with already married Danny Denzongpa and a rumored affair with Amitabh Bachachan. However her highly publicised relationship with director Mahesh Bhatt was the one that nearly took her to the brink of insanity.

I really can't get myself to understand the reasons as to why a man would put his most intimate and personal feelings shared with another in front of the world and let it be judged by the weekly Box Office standing - all apparently in the name of love. But this is exactly what Mahesh Bhatt, the then struggling director, did. He used his personal relationship with the actress as a stepping stone in Bollywood and proclaimed his forthcoming movie as an 'autobiography' of his love-affair. The film, Arth, released in 1982, had actress Smita Patil enacting the role of Parveen Babi, a successful actress suffering from schizophrenia. The success of the film made Mahesh Bhatt an overnight celebrity, but for Parveen it was an invasion of her private space and betrayal from a man she once loved.

Unable to handle this mental trauma, Parveen left the shiny and often self-centered world of glamour and drifted more towards a life of loneliness. For years she lived in New York and had adopted the profession as an interior designer but her loneliness pushed her deeper into mental depression.

When she finally did return to Mumbai, she was no more the vibrant actress we had all along known her for. Once when I along with couple of my housing block kids were whiling away time with my newly bought puppy at Juhu beach, Parveen, who was taking a morning walk approached us with a warm smile. There was sudden buzz among us kids while she innocently played with my dog. She asked our names, where we lived, how old the puppy was and how I should take care of him. But I barely paid attention to words and was more in a state of disbelief. Her goddess like beauty (which made her the most sought after actress of the 1970s) had been replaced with an overweight structure, unruly hair and a depleted face.

In the 1990s and early 2000, Parveen made headlines on a couple of occasions - accusing Bill Clintion and Amitabh Bachchan of a conspiracy to kill her and claiming to have evidence against Sanjay Dutt for his involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. None of her outbursts was ever taken seriously and they were instead blamed on her diminishing mental condition.

Finally after living a life of fame and then public scrutiny, in the month of January 2005, Parveen Babi was found dead in her Juhu apartment. She had passed away in her sleep and the cause of her death was severe diabetes.

People often say that a person is free from all the worries and emotional hazards of their life only once they are dead but for dearest Parveen even her death has not put an end to her turmoil. Just couple of days after her death, a number of people lined up outside the court claiming to be the sole heir to the wealth and property left behind by the actress. All this greediness and selfish interest resulted is nothing but more invasion of Parveen's life in the hands of the ever news-thirsty Indian media.

And not to forget Mr. Mahesh Bhatt, ex-director and now a businessman (a man who would, if needed would even produce a movie based on his self-proclaimed intelligence), used Parveen's death as another reason to make a second film based on his relationship with her and this time label it as a tribute.

This man simply disgusts me and he surely gives the word heartlessness a whole new meaning. What is even more shocking is that the movie's director Mohit Suri claims that his movie Woh Lamhe which has been written and produced by Mahesh Bhatt, bears no resemblance to the dead actress but on the other hand we have Mahesh Bhatt who has practically left no stone unturned in promoting the film as his final goodbye to his ex-love.

In a world where the need for fame and money is so intense that a man wouldn't hesitate to kill his own brother, that a son effortlessly cheats his father or that a mother sells her own daughter, Mr. Mahesh Bhatt's act to cash in on Parveen's death hardly seems surprising. Once again, the fate of the movie at the Box-office will decide how much worth the actress's personal hardship is.

But now I sincerely pray and wish that the world finally lets her soul rest in peace and will remember her only for the uniqueness she presented us, the Indian public, and the Bollywood Industry with, rather than her personal misfortunes.

Surely many more Aishwariyas, Bipashas and Priyankas will make their name and place in Bollywood, but for me there has never been nor shall ever be another Parveen Babi.